Shingle-machine



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIOE.

WILLIAM A. VHITING, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

SHINGLE-MACI-IINE.

, Specification of Letters Patent No. 16,562, dated February 3, 1857.

T o all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IVILLIAM A. IVHITING, of the city of St. Louis'and State of Missouri, have invented a new and Improved Shingle-Machine; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact descript-ion thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, Figure l being a side elevation7 and Fig. 2 a vertical section, of said machine.

Similar letters indicate like parts in both figures of said drawings.

Shingles produced by the process of riving or cleaving from blocks softened by steam, in machines heretofore in use, have been of inferior quality, for the reason that they are badly checked as it is technically termed, or filled with oblique cracks, caused by partially tearing asunder the fibers of wood as they yield before the edge of the cleaving knife. By experimenting with this description of shingle machines, I have discovered that by placing layers c, of india rubber, or other equivalent elastic substance, Linder the rest c, thereof, which supports the steamed blocks while they are being converted into shingles, the shingles cut therefrom are perfectly sound in every respectthe yielding of the block as the knives strike it, having the effect of preventing the yielding of the fibers before the edge of the knife and their consequent partial separation from each other. The same effect may also be produced by placing layers of india rubber, or gutta percha, under thebearing boxes d,

of the knife-wheel a, and by placing washers of the same material under the screw nuts f, f, of the screw bolts m, m, which secure the said bearing boxes to the sides of the machine. Or if preferred, the elastic material may be placed both under the rest o, and under the bearings of the knife-wheel a, of the machine. The entire machine may also rest upon elastic bearings j, j, as shown in the drawings.

In the accompanying drawings g, z', are the side beams and h, la, are the uprights of the frame of the machine.

7c, 7c, are shoes placed under the side beams z', z', and secured thereto by the screws Z, Z.

The principle of my invention, viz., giving an elastic bearing to the rest, or giving an elastic bearing to the knives or their supporters, may be applied to all machines employed for forming shingles, staves, or other articles, from steam-softened wood.

I-Iaving thus fully described my improved shingle machine, what I claim therein as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

Giving an elastic bearing to its rest c, or to the bearing boxes o-f the knife wheel, or to the equivalents thereof, for the purpose herein described.

The above specification of my improved shingle machine, signed and witnessed this 10th day of December, 185C.

IVILLIAM A. IVHITING.

IVitnesses:

Josnri-I YV. CORD, I-I. ROBINSON. 

